SuperBowl Sunday Predictions

My predictions for this game are easy. I think the New Orleans Saints will come marching in on a wave of energy and make it an exciting game. The seasoned vets known as the Indianapolis Colts will regain the upper hand and gallop to the finish line. I love the Colts, and being that I am from Indianapolis, its a slightly biased prediction. I am proud of my boys in blue and no city deserves to be forgotten in this game.

I hope that we can remember that this is just a game and many things need to be done to bring our economies back and our vibrant cities. These two teams are perfect examples of that. Indianapolis is definitely a working class city in a state has been decimated by manufacturing jobs being lost. I am a testament to the brain drain of Indiana with great college educational institutions, but with limited jobs to keep natives in state. When you can boast about the likes of Purdue, Indiana Univ, and Notre Dame to just name a few, this state should be churning out companies, products and innovation. New Orleans and the lower ninth ward deserve not to be forgotten either. After suffering from a natural disaster that ravaged the coast, this city should a beacon for how we all need to rally around each other. A victory will be much needed for both cities and more importantly lets hope that we don't forget their stories when the game ends and a champion is crowned.

A House of Cards...

where the numbers keep falling:

The sobering forecasts for the housing foreclosures in the next few years is over roughly 8 million homes. And to give validity to these numbers, the source is as close to the problem as possible...the FDIC, whose responsibility is regulating the nations federal banks. The response from top officials at the FDIC is that programs to reduce the epidemic have been frequently discussed for the last year. However, they have pretty honest in their assessment of these programs so far by admitting that the problem continues to get worse.

The next dilemma is a large number of people, who are staying in their houses, are seeing the prices from that investment sharply dropping. Take the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing index. This measure the price movements of the 20 largest city and it describes a record 18.2 percent drop in November when compared to the previous year.

As the housing numbers fall, the unemployment numbers rise:

The housing numbers become even more sobering when you take into account that The Labor Department stated that unemployment rates across the states rose sharply in December, and leading the way was Indiana (my home state) and South Carolina with the largest monthly gains.

Now I have receive a few questions that range from:

~ Where does the economy go from here?

~ Will the government stimilus bill work?

~ What does this mean for the stock market, my city, or my job?

I will try to do my best to tackle the problem in a way that is easy to understand in my next few posts. Stay tuned!